It’s not difficult to open up the Settings app and activate or deactivate things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Airplane Mode. But it could be a whole lot quicker. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have an icon on your home screen that allows you to toggle these things instantly — without having to navigate the Settings app? Thanks to IconToggles, you can.
Hidden Radio, a Bluetooth speaker and radio so minimalist it makes a sheet of blank paper look like something from a Jules Verne story, has finally emerged from a lengthy Kickstarter pupation to go on sale in a web store near you.
It’s stylish, it’s loud and it lasts longer than most other Bluetooth speakers around. What’s not to like?
Ever heard of MirrorLink? A bunch of really big names in the car and tech world — Honda, GM, Toyota, Panasonic and pretty much all the big Android handset makers (that’s right, no Apple) — got together, called themselves the Car Connectivity Consortium and created a standardized communication format so that smartphones could easily communicate with car audio head units and the like. The format is called MirrorLink, and today Sony has unleashed no less than five MirrorLink-equipped units head units out onto U.S. roads, two of which are equipped with MirrorLink.
Wood is, indeed, awesome. Speaker makers have been using wood for years to wrap high-end speakers in, utilizing the highly resonant natural properties of wood for sound reproduction. Now, with the all the rage for tiny bluetooth speakers like the Jambox and the Logitech Mini Boombox, perhaps it’s time for something just a bit more, well, woody.
The Mini Boombox ($100) is Logitech’s entry into the hotly contested Bluetooth micro-speaker contest. Like its contemporaries (the Jawbone Jambox and Monster iClarityHD are two prime examples), the Boombox supplies big sound in a tiny, wireless, battery-powered package — only in this case with Logitech’s signature sleek, stylish approach and a futuristic control panel. Let’s take a look at how it stacks up.
Admit it. You took one look at the tiny Satechi Bluetooth speaker up there in the photo and thought “This is going to be a piece of junk.” It probably won’t help your hastily formed opinion if I tell you that it costs just $30.
Don’t worry. I thought the same. I only had the PR people send me one so I could tease, and write a mean but hilarious review about this obviously crappy little speaker. It turns out that I was dead wrong.
Along with the removal of YouTube as a default app, one of the new features of iOS 6 beta 4 is the ability to share data via Bluetooth. It’s not exactly clear what kind of purpose Bluetooth Sharing will serve.
It might be linked to the iPod Nano as a watch where users will be able to view text messages, weather, answer calls, and more by tapping on their iPod Nano when the latest version is released.
Do you remember the Pear, an ingenious Bluetooth dongle that would give any 30-pin iPod dock the ability to receive and play music streamed from an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch? We were eagerly awaiting the little gadget’s successful funding on Kickstarter, but it looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer: the product has been pulled from the crowdsourced project funding website following an accusation of trademark infringement.
The good news is the issue should be resolvedpretty quickly: the guys behind the Pear say that they were hit with a cease-and-desist order over the name of the dock converter, which caused the Kickstarter page to be pulled immediately, leaving the Pear team with no way to tell their fans and supporters what was going on. However, with a name change and a slight design alteration, Pear should be back to life in the next 3-6 weeks. Let’s hope a shippable product isn’t too far behind.
If you have a lot of Bluetooth devices in your life, it’s probable that you’ve had it connect to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch when you didn’t want it to. If you get sick of scrolling through a long list of other people’s computers in your office, for example, you can just set up your iOS device to forget the ones you don’t want to deal with. In addition, if you’ve “forgotten” a device to get it out of your list, then suddenly need to re-find it again, we can help you with that, too.
This isn’t the smallest headset. In fact, Motorola’s Elite Sliver Bluetooth Headset ($130) is actually bulkier than many other personal BT headsets. Its trick, though, is to hide most of the bulk behind the user’s ear, leaving just a sliver — hence the name — of technology visbile.
But the Sliver isn’t just a one-trick pony; its case also doubles as a battery that will top off the Sliver when the headset is housed in the case (which actually does triple duty as a charger).
If you have been desperately seeking a Bluetooth speaker which looks like a video projector, or a small, mains-powered electric fan heater, then your search is over! Behold: the Croon, the wireless/wired
speaker of your twisted dreams.
When we review speaker docks here at Cult of Mac, one of the most common things we’ll ding them for in our ratings is lack of Bluetooth streaming support. Especially for the more expensive speaker docks, it just seems like a no brainer: why not just slap in a Bluetooth chip for a couple bucks and infinitely expand the usefulness of your product?
We assume that we will continue to be disappointed by Bluetooth-less speaker docks for years to come, but maybe this brilliant KickStarter project can help mitigate that disappointment. Called the Pear (get it?), it’s a tiny little Bluetooth dongle that plugs into your speaker dock’s 30 Pin Dock Connector and gives A2DP streaming Bluetooth audio support to any device!
There’s not much more to it, which is why this is such a great idea: imagine being able to upgrade that dusty old speaker dock going unused on your nightstand or in your kitchen with just a $40 add-on. Unfortunately, it’s a Kickstarter project right now, but with more than $29,000 dollars towards its $40,000 goal already attained with almost two months left to go, this looks like one idea that’s going to soon become a reality.
Source: Kickstarter
Via: Engadget
A long time ago, before this site was born, we reviewed the Altec Lansing BackBeat 906 Bluetooth headphones, and liked ’em. Plantronics had their own identical version of the 906, as they had owned Plantronics since 2005 (the two companies parted ways about the time the 906 was released).
The Plantronics BackBeat Go ($100) is an evolution of the 906. Same principle — wireless (meaning there’s no wire conecting the player with the headset) music and calls in a compact form via the magic of Bluetooth — but in an even smaller and more svelte form factor. Should be even more fantstic, right? Let’s take a look.
Apple’s rivals are already producing smartphones with NFC capabilities, and although NFC is yet to really take off, it’s still capable of some pretty incredible things that we all want from our smartphones. However, there has been some debate about whether or not Apple will adopt the feature, or create an alternative of its own — possibly utilizing Bluetooth.
Since the company unveiled Passbook in iOS 6, that debate has hit an all-time high. Passbook would work wonderfully with NFC, and would allow us to ditch physical cards and tickets in favor of a “contactless” system in which we just hold our devices up to a sensor. And according to a newly granted Apple patent for “iTravel,” it appears the Cupertino company is just as excited about that prospect as we are.
Oh man, I can totally see myself taking this mechanical Bluetooth keyboard to the local bar and clackety clacking out a few posts every morning. It’s called the KBtalKing Pro and it is a rather clever little beast, a pro keyboard which is designed to work with – and switch seamlessly between – up to ten of your devices.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, seems to be getting in on the portable Bluetooth speaker game. Now the ante has been upped by the venerable Dutch consumer electronic company Philips, and the offering is a pretty good one.
Like the JamBox which inspired this whole market segment, the Shoqbox (as it is named) is a small rectangular “candy-bar” style speaker with stereo drivers and a Bluetooth radio. The difference is that this one has been ruggedized.
Cubedge might sound like a mis-pronunciation of “cabbage,” but it is in fact a contraction of the words “cube” and “edge.” Probably. What I know for sure is that it’s a Bluetooth speaker in the familiar mold of the JamBox and the Braven, that it will cost $150 when it ships in September, and that it is guaranteed to get you laid. At least, that what the pictures on the website seem to be promising.
Bad back? Of course you do, because you spend the day slouched in front of a computer monitor, and then you slouch over the machines at your gym whilst listening to the excellent CultCast on your iPhone, before heading home to a slouched dinner in front of the TV.
In fact, you’re so indifferent to your posture and the health of your back that you probably don’t deserve to know about the LumoBack Smart Posture Sensor, but I’ll tell you anyway. You’re welcome.
The LumoBack is a small sensor on a belt that you strap around your lumbar region, and when you flop into a bad position it administers a short, sharp buzz to remind you to sit up. But of course there’s a lot more to it than that.
How much extra are you willing to pay to get the best iPad keyboard case possible? If your answer topped out at $10, then we’ve got the keyboard case for you, courtesy of Cirago. It works just fine, really, but you won’t mistake it for a Zagg.
It’s inevitable that any review of the Braven 650 portable Bluetooth speaker compares it to JawBone’s JamBox, and so will this one. Short answer? The Braven sounds better. Long answer? That’s a bit more complicated.
We’re super excited for iOS 6. Although it isn’t the complete iOS overhaul many users were hoping for, it does deliver a whole host of new features — like a new Maps app, user interface enhancements, improvements to stock apps, and Siri support on iPad — that we’re certainly looking forward to.
However, it’s hard to ignore the fact that iOS 6 still has some things missing. Things we’ve been waiting for for some time. Here are seven of them.
Sennheiser’s VMX 200 is one kostspielig little Bluetooth headset. Its $150 MSRP is higher than the other guys’ flagship mobile-phone headsets, like the Motorola CommandOne, Jabra Supreme and BlueAnt Q2, all of which are good-to-stellar performers, and stuffed to the gills with features.
Taking the pricing into consideration, one might expect the VMX 200 to have near-perfect manners, and at least as many bells and whistles as its competitors, if not more. Right?
Of the many keyboard options available to the iPad-toting traveler, one that is often forgotten is Apple’s own aluminum Bluetooth keyboard. It is light, tough and slides easily into a bag. But if you want it to last more than a few trips, you should probably use a case.
This last weekend I did what every good Englishman should do and returned to Blighty to get drunk in the name of the Queen. And as I figured there might also be some work to do, I packed my keyboard in Waterfield’s $29 Keyboard Slip case.
If you’re a mobile gamer, then you already know the pangs of those on-screen controls. That’s why any serious gamer heads straight for some form of bluetooth controller to get his/her game on. Snakebyte (Sunflex), a company that makes gaming-related peripherals, has announced their plans to sell a new bluetooth gaming controller for Android and iOS. The idroid:con looks to differentiate itself from other bluetooth conrtollers by being the first to have five different functions and come with no app obligation.
I love my Apple Wireless Keyboard, but I don’t love changing its darn batteries every couple of weeks. But the Logitech K760 Wireless Solar Keyboard could soon be taking its place on my desk. Powered entirely by ambient light (it doesn’t even need batteries as a backup), the K760 will run for three months on a full charge with eight hours of use a day.
It’s ideal for those with Mac and iOS devices, because it allows you to connect to three devices simultaneously and quickly switch between them using the function keys.